Community PR: 5 Keys to Creating Continuous Customer Relationships

Your community is a set of concentric circles, beginning with your closet relationships and expanding out as far as your would like to reach.

In plumbing the depths of my experiences archive, I remembered this presentation I created two years ago. Dual cast to a live audience in the room and over the Internet, the presentation covered the five keys to creating your customer community. Here's the outline . . .

1. Discover who you are and how you relate to your community

Values + Communities = Core Business Values

values: how to determine your core values

communities: internal, external, vendors

business values

What types of communities do you belong to or resonate with?

2. Reveal how your community relates to you

Target x Questions = Answers + an active customer advisory board

current target market

interview questions

evaluating answers

Choose your top ten customers and interview them to find out how your business fits into their lives.

3. Listen to your customers tell your story

common vocabulary

case studies = successes

open lines of communication

Can you tell your story in your customer's voice?

4. Connect your inner circle of communities

who: customers, partners, vendors

what: you do for them

what: they do for you

How do you fit together?

5. Cascading communications in tiers

internal: inside

external: outside

online: on screens

offline: direct

in person: face to face

The most effective communication plan delivers consistent messaging to every audience via sequencing to maintain a visible presence in each community.

Barbara Rozgonyi

Barbara Rozgonyi publishes WiredPRWorks.com and directs CoryWest Media, an integrated social media marketing and PR firm. As Social Media Club (SMC) Chicago’s founder, Barbara is a recognized spokesperson for brands, bloggers and the social media marketing PR industry. Barbara invites you to join the Wired PR Works community on Facebook or to contact her regarding interviews, partner promotions or speaking engagements at 630.207.7530.

This makes me think of Stephen Covey’s Circle of Influence approach. We all have an outer Circle of Concern, and we should focus our energies on our inner circle of things over which we have control. To add to your approach, tell the story and focus on the Circle of Influence. The viral effect may be that others who do have control over your outer circle may make a difference in areas you can’t influence alone.